Removable clothers basket for dryer

ABSTRACT

A clothes drying appliance of the tumbling drum type accepts a perforate clothes basket loaded with damp clothing which is fully insertable in the drum for rotation therewith during the drying cycle. The basket may be readily removed from the drum when the clothing is dry to facilitate access, moving and sorting. A plurality of resilient members circumferentially spaced about the inside diameter of the drum support the basket radially inwardly of the drum to form a plurality of air passageways for circulation of drying air currents along the periphery of the basket and into the basket and also drive the basket rotatably with the drum.

ili tates atent 1 1 1 1 3,840,998

arcusseln Oct. 15, i974 154l REMOVABLE CLOTHERS BASKET FOR 3,696,521 10/1972 Hubbard 34/128 DRYER P E K h W S rimary xaminerennet iprague [75] Inventor. isletrlry Marcussen, Stevensvdle, Assistant Examiner james C Yeung Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Hill, Gross, Simpson, Van [73] Assignee: Whirlpool (Importation, Benton Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Simpson Harbor, Mich. [221 Filed: Aug. 29, 1973 [57] ATBSTRACT A clothes drymg appliance of the tumbling drum type [21] Appl. No.: 392,743 accepts a perforate clothes basket loaded with damp clothing which is fully insertable in the drum for rota- 52 Us. c1 34/128, 34/133, 259/57 therhwhh during the drying cyclh The basket 51 Int. (:1. F26b 11/112 may he readlly hemmed from the drum when the [58] Field of Search u 34/128 129 130 133 clothing is dry to facilitate access, moving and sorting. i A plurality of resilient members circumferentially 34/134, 139, 68/4, 259/57, 50 1 spaced about the inside diameter of the drum support [56] References Cited the basket radially inwardly of the drum to form a plurality of air passageways for circulation of drying air UNITED STATES PATENTS currents along the periphery of the basket and into the 3 a p -I basket and also drive the basket rotatably with the eaumon 2,787,841 4/1957 Warino .i drum 3,316,659 5/1967 Lauck 34 133 12 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures Pmmmnm 1 51974 SHEET 10$ 2 FAIENIEnnm 1 51914 SHEEI 3 BF 2 1 REMOVABLE CLOTIIERS BASKET FOR DRYER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates generally to domestic clothes dryers and more particularly to a removable basket selectively insertable into an appliance for drying wet articles placed in the basket.

2. The Prior Art The prior art is exemplified by US. Pat. Nos. 2,783,551; 2,817,501; 3,134,203; 2,239,904; 3,696,521 and 2,784,500.

A major difficulty with tumbler type drying appliances involves loading and unloading the dryer drum with clothing. Prior attempts to overcome this difficulty, such as the dryer shown in US. Pat. No. 2,817,501, provides a removable drying basket carried by the dryer drum to facilitate the handling of the clothing. The basket, however, more precisely a drawer-like container, allows the clothing to tumble in and out thereof during the drying cycle. Accordingly, the basket (drawer) must be located in a lower position before being removed from the drum, at which position the clothing will tumble back into the basket in order to be removed therewith. On' occasion it may happen that some clothing will remain behind in the drum when the basket is removed, creating problems with subsequent drying loads if not discovered and removed before reloading.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, a basket is removably carried in the dryer drum, and retains all of the clothing within the basket throughout the drying cycle. When the basket is withdrawn from the dryer drum, all the clothing is carried thereby without the annoying bother of first locating the basket in a specific removal position.

The drying basket of the present invention comprises a light weight, perforated, cylindrical clothing enclosure with a generally flat back wall which serves as a supporting base when the basket is removed from the dryer drum, and is provided with a front wall, having a comparatively large opening therein which comprises a front access opening when the basket is inserted in the drum or top access opening when removed therefrom and set on its base, for use as a conventional open topped container.

Further, the basket of the present invention is carried in the dryer drum on a plurality of resilient, axially extending members, which are secured to the inner cylindrical surface of the dryer drum in spaced relationship with one another to drive the basket through frictional engagement therewith. The resilient members support the basket radially inward of the drum to provide a plurality of air passageways for circulation of air along the periphery of the basket whereby drying air currents will enter the basket through perforations in the cylindrical wall to supplement the usual drying air currents directed on the clothing from the rear of the drum.

Wash and wear and permanent press clothing require prompt removal from dryers after being dried to prevent wrinkles and creases from setting in these fabrics. Often mixes of clothing fabrics are washed and dried together so it is important to readily locate and remove these clothes from the dryer first. Accordingly,

the accessibility and visibility of the clothing is a valuable feature of the invention apart from the convenience afforded therein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a view in perspective of a clothes drying appliance constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention showing the drying basket inserted into the dryer drum with portions broken away to show the relative position of components;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the drying basket shown removed from the dryer drum;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the drying appliance shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a diagonal fragmentary sectional view taken substantially along the line IVIV of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a rear elevational view of the drying basket showing the air distribution means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION In the preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in FIG. I, a clothes drying appliance 10 is shown comprising an enclosure cabinet 12 with a control console M thereon, housing a control device 16 for regulating the drying operation. A control knob 18 selectively sets the control device M for various drying cycles of operation, as, for example, automatic or timed drying cycles. The enclosure cabinet 12 com prises horizontal top and bottom panels 20 and 22, respectively, a pair of vertical side panels 24 and vertical front and rear panels 26 and 28, respectively. An access opening 30 is provided in the front panel 26, having a closure door 32 cooperating therewith for loading and unloading the dryer 110.

The dryer 10 further includes a drying container for tumbling clothes, in the form of a revolving drum 34 housed within the cabinet 12 and extending axially from the front panel 26 to a bulkhead 36 spaced for wardly of rear panel 28. Drum 34 is supported at the front and rear by a pair of support rollers 48 (one being illustrated) mounted on bulkhead 36 in the rear and on the front panel 26. Raceways or circumferential grooves 50 indented in the peripheral wall of the front and rear portions of drum 34 serve as tracks for the rollers 68. A basket means which comprises a receptacle or clothes drying basket 100 is removably mounted within the drum 34, and has'baffles108 to aid in tumblingthe clothes. Resilient members 7. 8 are attached to the drum and frictionally engage and drive the basket 1166.

A motor 52, mounted to bottom panel 22in a rear corner of the cabinet 12, rotatably drives the drum 34 by means of a drive belt 54 extending around the periphery of and in frictional engagement with drum 34 and around a motor pulley 56 mounted at one end of motor shaft 58. The other end of motor shaft 58 drives a blower 60, arranged to circulate air through the drum 3d. Blower 60 is included in a warm air exhaust system 62 positioned between rear panel 28 and bulkhead 36.

Bulkhead 36 serves to enclose the open-ended rear portion of drum 34. and provides a fixed rear wall in which to locatea pair of spaced openings, comprising an air inlet 64 and an air outlet 66. The blower 60 draws moisture-laden air from the interior of drum 34 through outlet 66, through a removable lint screen 68, air duct to the blower 60 and out of the cabinet 12 through exhaust duct 72. Air exhausted from the drum 34 is replaced by ambient air entering the drum by way of an intake opening in the rear panel 28 (not shown), being drawn through a fresh air duct 74, passing over heater means '76 and into the drum 34 through inlet 64. A stream of warm air is thus circulated through the drum 34, subjecting clothing placed therein to a drying environment to remove moisture from the fabrics while the clothing is tumbled as the drum rotates.

Referring specifically to FIG. 2, the clothes drying basket 100 comprises a light weight clothing enclosure having a perforated cylindrical side wall 101 and a pair of end walls 102 and 104. Wall 102 is provided with a comparatively large access opening 103 therein to accommodate loading and unloading the basket with clothing and is further provided with handle openings 115 for easy removal or insertion of the basket 100 into the drum 34 or for transporting the basket from place to place.

The wall 104 opposite the wall 102 comprises a generally flat perforated rear wall when the basket 100 is inserted into the drum 34 and also serves as a flat base surface when the basket is removed from the drum. The wall 104 is further provided with a bearing surface 105 which cooperates with a complementary surface 111 on the bulkhead 36 to provide a bearing for the rotation of the basket 100 against the bulk-head 36 as best seen in FIG. 1.

An annular offset portion 107 connects the cylindrical side wall 101 to the rear wall 104 with a plurality of air circulating fins or vanes 106 formedtherealong to aid in the circulation of heated air entering the drum 34 from the air inlet 64. Perforations 120 and 121 in the offset portion 107 and rear wall 104 provide for the direct entrance of heated air currents, represented by the arrows 131 in FIG. 4, into the basket 100 from the rear.

Preferably the basket 100 is formed of molded plastic having suitable characteristics to withstand the drying temperatures encountered in a drying appliance, or of other suitable light weight construction such as wire mesh or thin wall perforated metal. A plurality of integrally formed baffles 108, extending radially inward of the cylindrical wall 101 of the basket 100, between the wall 102 and the offset portion 107, cause tumbling action of the clothing in the basket as it is being rotated and serve to strengthen and rigidify the cylindrical wall As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, basket 100 is fully insertable into the drum 34 and is supported on resilient spaced members 78 to frictionally engage and drive the basket 100 with the drum 34. The resilient members 78 are circumferentially spaced about the interior of the drum 34 and suitably secured thereto to space the circumferential outer surface of the basket 100 radially inward of the drum thereby to define air flow passages 130 about the periphery of the basket 100, i.e. between the drum and the basket. Heated air, represented by arrows 131a from the air inlet 64, is directed by vanes 106 through perforations 120 and into passages 130. The air passages 130 enable the heated air to enter basket 100 through perforations 132 in the basket wall 101. Thus, currents of drying air are directed on the clothing from all sides through the perforations 120, 121 and 132 to accelerate the drying process by providing more surface exposure of the clothing to the flow of drying air entering the basket.

It should be noted that the configurations of the vanes 106 may be varied to modify the distribution of the air that flows in through the back wall perforations 120 or in through the perforations 132 adjacent the resilient members 78.

In some instances it may be desirable to dry clothing in the appliance 10 with the basket removed from the drum 34. Therein the resilient spaced members 78 will serve as baffles to aid in the tumbling of the cloth- It should be understood that I wish to embody within the scope of the patent warranted hereon all such modifications as reasonably and properly come within the scope of mycontribution to the art.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a drying appliance,

basket means comprising a receptacle having a first wall constituting a bottom wall for supporting the receptacle vertically on a support surface when used to carry a load,

said first wall constituting an end wall when said receptacle is inserted into a dryer of the horizontal axis rotatable type and disposed horizontally,

said first wall having a support formed on the outside surface to provide a bearing journal,

a second wall constituting a side wall for the receptacle to enclose a load to be either carried or dried,

a third wall means forming an opening in said receptacle constituting a top opening when said receptacle is disposed vertically and an end opening when disposed horizontally,

said first and second walls being perforated to admit currents of drying air therethrough,

and drive means in said drying appliance receiving said basket means in driving relationship for rotation of said basket means on a horizontal axis,

whereby the receptacle may be pre-loaded and thereafter inserted into the appliance for drying of a load.

2. In a clothes drying appliance having in combination:

a cabinet,

an imperforate drum rotatably mounted in said cabinet, means forming an air flow circuit including said drum for circulating air within said drum,

a perforated basket insertable within said drum and into said air flow circuit, and

a plurality of circumferentially spaced members between said drum and said basket to support said basket radially inward of the drum, said members forming air flow passages between said basket and said drum for circulating drying air around and into said basket.

3. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 2, wherein said perforated basket comprises a light weight drying enclosure for loadingwith a supply of clothing to be dried and being insertable into said drum for rotation therewith and being removable from said drum with the supply of clothing after the clothing is dried.

4. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 3, wherein perforations in said basket accommodate distribution of air throughout the basket.

5. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 4,

circumferential surface of said drum to frictionally engage the basket for rotation with the drum.

6. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 5 wherein said basket provides an air circulating means formed integral therewith to circulate air along said air flow passages.

7. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 6 wherein said spaced members comprise baffle means to aid tumbling action of the clothing to be dried when said drying appliance is used with the basket withdrawn from said drum.

8. A basket for a clothes drying appliance adapted to store and transport clothing therein comprising an enclosure having cylindrical perforated side walls and a pair of generally flat end walls, one of said end walls having an access opening therein, said basket adapted to be drivably received in a non-perforated dryer drum of a clothes drying appliance, said drum providing a means for distribution of drying air throughout the basket which includes a plurality of members spaced about a circumferential outer surface of said basket to support said basket in said dryer drum, whereby said spaced members define air flow passages for distributing the drying air throughout the basket by means of perforations provided in the basket walls.

9. A basket according to claim 8, wherein a plurality of radially extending baffles, formed integrally with the cylindrical side walls and extending axially between said end walls, are provided to encourage tumbling action of clothing being dried in the basket and to strengthen and rigidify said cylindrical side walls.

10. A basket according to claim 9, wherein a second of said pair of end walls provides a support base for the basket when said basket is removed from the drum.

11. A basket according to claim 10, wherein an air circulating means is formed integral with the basket to circulate air along said air flow passages.

12. A basket according to claim 11, wherein said air circulating means comprises a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes adjacent said second end wall.

is i= 

1. In a drying appliance, basket means comprising a receptacle Having a first wall constituting a bottom wall for supporting the receptacle vertically on a support surface when used to carry a load, said first wall constituting an end wall when said receptacle is inserted into a dryer of the horizontal axis rotatable type and disposed horizontally, said first wall having a support formed on the outside surface to provide a bearing journal, a second wall constituting a side wall for the receptacle to enclose a load to be either carried or dried, a third wall means forming an opening in said receptacle constituting a top opening when said receptacle is disposed vertically and an end opening when disposed horizontally, said first and second walls being perforated to admit currents of drying air therethrough, and drive means in said drying appliance receiving said basket means in driving relationship for rotation of said basket means on a horizontal axis, whereby the receptacle may be pre-loaded and thereafter inserted into the appliance for drying of a load.
 2. In a clothes drying appliance having in combination: a cabinet, an imperforate drum rotatably mounted in said cabinet, means forming an air flow circuit including said drum for circulating air within said drum, a perforated basket insertable within said drum and into said air flow circuit, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced members between said drum and said basket to support said basket radially inward of the drum, said members forming air flow passages between said basket and said drum for circulating drying air around and into said basket.
 3. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 2, wherein said perforated basket comprises a light weight drying enclosure for loading with a supply of clothing to be dried and being insertable into said drum for rotation therewith and being removable from said drum with the supply of clothing after the clothing is dried.
 4. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 3, wherein perforations in said basket accommodate distribution of air throughout the basket.
 5. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 4, wherein said spaced members are secured to an inner circumferential surface of said drum to frictionally engage the basket for rotation with the drum.
 6. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 5 wherein said basket provides an air circulating means formed integral therewith to circulate air along said air flow passages.
 7. In a clothes drying appliance according to claim 6 wherein said spaced members comprise baffle means to aid tumbling action of the clothing to be dried when said drying appliance is used with the basket withdrawn from said drum.
 8. A basket for a clothes drying appliance adapted to store and transport clothing therein comprising an enclosure having cylindrical perforated side walls and a pair of generally flat end walls, one of said end walls having an access opening therein, said basket adapted to be drivably received in a non-perforated dryer drum of a clothes drying appliance, said drum providing a means for distribution of drying air throughout the basket which includes a plurality of members spaced about a circumferential outer surface of said basket to support said basket in said dryer drum, whereby said spaced members define air flow passages for distributing the drying air throughout the basket by means of perforations provided in the basket walls.
 9. A basket according to claim 8, wherein a plurality of radially extending baffles, formed integrally with the cylindrical side walls and extending axially between said end walls, are provided to encourage tumbling action of clothing being dried in the basket and to strengthen and rigidify said cylindrical side walls.
 10. A basket according to claim 9, wherein a second of said pair of end walls provides a support base for the basket when said basket is removed from the drum.
 11. A basket according to claim 10, wherein an air circulating means is formed inteGral with the basket to circulate air along said air flow passages.
 12. A basket according to claim 11, wherein said air circulating means comprises a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes adjacent said second end wall. 